LAD #9: Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments

Female suffrage was a chief topic for discussion, and it began the feminist political movement in the nineteenth century. A group of 200 women and 40 men drafted and approved this document in New York in 1848, which is a series of resolutions calling for women's suffrage and the reform of marital and property laws that kept women in an inferior status to men. This document was intentionally modeled after the Declaration of Independence, hence the name, "Declaration of Sentiments." In the middle of the Declaration of Independence, the writers denounced the King of England, stating all of his wrongdoings and their reason for wanting independence. Modeling from that document, the writers of the Declaration of Sentiments denounced men in general, and stated what they have done wrong in the past, and why women should be granted the freedom of suffrage. Frederick Douglass attended. The convention was organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, two Quakers who were interested in the women suffrage movement when Lucretia Mott was denied entrance into an antislavery meeting because of her gender. This convention was made in order to spur more conventions around the country, and spread the idea of women suffrage. At a time when traditional roles were still very much in place, the Declaration caused much controversy among the people of the nation, and it lost a lot of support because of that reason.